Investigation of Secondary School Students’ Digital Native Characteristics Evaluations

Abstract

This study aims to investigate whether the high school students’ digital nativeness level differs according to different variables (gender, grade level, computer use year, internet use year and daily internet usage period). In the study, survey research which is a quantitative method was used. The research study was conducted in 2017-2018 academic year and the sampling consist of 769 secondary school students from 3 schools in Mersin Province. As a data collection tool, Digital Native Assessment Scale (DNAS) was used. DNAS was originally developed by Teo (2013) to measure assessments of whether students have the characteristics of digital natives. The scale was adapted to Turkish language by Teo, Kabakçı, Yurdakul and Ursavaş (2016). The findings showed that, the digital nativeness score of the participants could be considered as middle & high. Participants’ digital nativeness levels were examined
according to the different variables; students’ digital nativeness levels did not differ in terms of gender. However, their scores differed significantly according to their grade levels. Between the groups, the highest digital nativeness score was in 10th grade and the lowest digital nativeness score was 11th grade. Besides, participants digital nativeness score was significantly differ according to the computer use and internet use years. It was also observed that students with a high internet and computer use had a higher digital
nativeness score.